A Night at the Old Château
by Twitch E. One
Summary: Gardenia's worst fear is simple: ghosts. So naturally she isn't to fond of Halloween. But when some old faces from the past reappear she may have to face that fear. A small James X Gardenia story.


A Night at the Old Château

Team Rocket was trudging through rocky, mountainous terrain. They had just been launched halfway across the Sinnoh region by a certain Pikachu and they had landed in a small river. After pulling themselves out they started their way up to try and get to level ground. They continued up the mountain until they reached a somewhat level area and the trio collapsed on the ground. "Jessie, why do we always fail to catch that Pikachu?"

"Well I don't know James," said the one referred to as Jessie, "maybe it's because you two never pull your weight!"

"No need to yell, Jess," responded James, "even though it's normally you who doesn't pull their weight."

"ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT," exclaimed Jessie.

"W-W-What, no I wasn't, I mean I was, uh, Meowth, help me."

"Sorry, you're on your own this time," said the small cat as he collapsed on the ground.

"Thanks a lot," said James. "Well we had better find out where we are."

"Don't change the subject James," Jessie yelled. James just ignored her as he looked around, trying to find anyone to ask where they were. He spotted someone a ways off and ran up to the person. It was a rather portly man standing by the entrance to a cave, obviously dressed for mountain exploration.

"Hello sir, may I ask you a question?"

"Certainly, what is it you would like to ask," said the man jovially.

"Well if you could please tell me where my friends and I are and the direction of the closest city."

"Of course, this here is the western part of Route 211, and the nearest city is Eterna to the west. It is close so it shouldn't be too hard to get there, maybe half an hour at most. Now if you will excuse me I have a cave to explore."

"Thank you and have fun," said James as he waved the hiker off.

"James, stop waving like a idiot."

"But Jessie, he told me how to get to civilization."

"I don't care about that, all I care about is finding those twerps and getting my revenge."

"Yes, but Jessie, how can we find where they are if we don't know where we are."

"We always seem to run into them no matter where we are so it shouldn't be any problem to find them."

"But can't we just go to the city. I went through a lot of trouble to get that information."

"You asked one person for directions. I would hardly call that trouble."

Meowth had been standing near his two companions and was getting quite irritated at their childish argument; so irritated in fact, that he decided to end it. With one small jump and two swings of his claws, he had ended the petty argument. "Listen you," yelled Meowth, "we won't get anything done if you two won't stop yelling at each other. Now James, we do need to find the twerps."

"Ha," laughed Jessie.

"BUT, we also need to get to a city. I don't know if you realize this or not, Jessie, but how are we going to go anywhere else. We are not prepared to trek through a mountain, and I don't think we can risk going down this river, so our only option is west, which will take us to the city."

"Err, fine, we'll go to the stupid city." So the three of them headed off to Eterna City, whether they wanted to or not.

**MEANWHILE **

Gardenia had been busy since the crack of dawn. Before she even opened her Gym, she already had two challengers, the first of which lost miserably, while the second swept through her entire team like it was nothing. After that she helped some of the Gym Trainers with their Pokémon. By midday, both Gardenia and her Pokémon were exhausted from all the work. Gardenia decided to have lunch at the Pokémon center, seeing as which she had to heal her Pokémon for the afternoon battles anyway. She entered the center and walked up to the counter.

"Why, hello Gardenia," greeted the local Nurse Joy, "and what brings you to the center today."

"Oh, you know, battling challengers, training, working myself into an early grave, same old, same old."

"You should go to the Eterna Forest; that always seems to make you feel better."

"I have no time; my entire afternoon is booked with battles."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but that is the duty of a Gym Leader."

"Yeah, I know. Well I'm headed to the cafeteria to get some lunch, think you will be done with my Pokémon by the time I finish."

"Most definitely."

Gardenia headed off to the cafeteria and ordered herself a large salad. She found a table near the window looking out into the lobby of the center. She ate her salad in peace until she looked out the window to see and familiar face entering the Pokémon Center. It was an old challenger that she had faced not all that long ago. Gardenia stood from her seat and headed back out to the lobby.

"Hey, Lucas, is that you?"

The boy she called turned to face her. When he saw who had called him, a small smile appeared on his face. "Well if it isn't Gardenia. How've you been?"

"I've been better."

"A lot of work at the Gym?" Gardenia nodded. "Well I wish you luck with all that. On another subject, are you planning anything for tonight?"

"Tonight? What's tonight?"

"You don't know? It's October 31. You know, Halloween."

Gardenia grew stiff. "O-Oh that. I really d-don't celebrate H-Halloween."

"Hm, oh right, the whole 'afraid of ghosts' thing. Sorry, I forgot."

"I am not afraid of ghosts."

"Riiiiiight." The two of them stood there awkwardly for a little while, until Lucas got an idea. "Hey Gardenia, I know a way for you to be able to get away from the Gym."

This caught Gardenia's attention. "Keep talking."

"Well, what if something were to come up in the Eterna Forest. Wouldn't it be your duty to go and investigate?"

"Well, yeah, but what could possibly come up in the next few hours?"

A devious smile grew on Lucas's face. "Hasn't the investigation of the Old Château been on your list for quite some time now?"

Gardenia grew stiff again. "You're k-kidding right? T-That place is c-crawling with ghosts."

"I thought you weren't afraid of ghosts?"

"Well I'm not, it's just that I can't just abandon my Gym. I have so much work to do, I can't just go running off to investigate some old house."

"Look, all you would have to do is go in, look around for a little while, then spend the rest of the day in the forest."

"Well that does sound nice. But the gho-"

"Alright Gardenia, I'm going to tell you something. There are no ghosts in the Old Château. I was just there, and the most threatening thing there was a little ghost living in the television, and he isn't a problem anymore, trust me."

"Well I guess. But are you sure there aren't any more ghosts?"

"Positive, now why don't you head off the forest and have a good time. Okay?"

"Okay," Gardenia said with a small quiver in her voice. Lucas headed to the cafeteria to grab himself some lunch. Gardenia's Pokémon weren't quite finished yet so she sat in the lobby waiting.

**MEANWHILE (again)**

Team Rocket had just hobbled into town. They collapsed on the ground just inside the city gates. They discussed with each other about where they should head next. Ultimately, the decision was made that they would all head to the Pokémon Center to see if they could get some food to eat. They found the center without much trouble and were just about to go inside. "Yes, soon we will be able to get some food," exclaimed Jessie.

"Yes yes, well let's go in to get that food," said James as he opened the door. He headed into the center's lobby. At first everything seemed to be like a normal Pokémon Center, though he did see someone at the counter. From behind him, Jessie and Meowth pushed past him and headed into the cafeteria. The person at the counter turned around to reveal a very familiar face.

Gardenia turned around, after thanking Nurse Joy for her hard work, to see someone very familiar. She ran over to James and greeted him happily. "Well, uh, hello there Gardenia. I see you're doing well," James said as a response to her greeting.

"Yes, and you seem to be doing well yourself. And you'll be happy to know that your Cacnea is doing fine as well." The two of them continued to make light conversation for quite awhile. Jessie and Meowth were too busy eating to notice one member missing. After awhile, Gardenia brought up the subject of the trip she was about to go on.

"The Old Château, huh? Sounds kind of creepy. I guess that fits for Halloween though."

"Y-Yeah but I still don't want to go."

"Really? That sound like fun to me."

"How could that be fun? A house crawling with ghosts doesn't sound like fun to me."

"I guess its how you look at it. I think that going to a creepy house on Halloween sounds like lots of fun. But I guess to you it sounds scary, no matter what the day may be."

"I-I'm not scared."

"You look scared to me, and you aren't even there yet."

"Oh yeah, Mr. Brave, why don't you come with me."

"Fine, I will," said James. The two of them glared at each other for a minute or two but they couldn't keep it up. They both burst into laughter. The two seemed to get along very well for being not all that well acquainted. "Well if we're going, we had better start now."

"Wait, you were serious?"

"Of course. I told you it sounds like fun," said James. The two headed out of the center, with James leading the way. Unbeknownst to them, they had a few people viewing their departure. Jessie and Meowth were staring in bewilderment from the cafeteria, but Lucas just stood there smiling.

**ONE HOUR LATER**

The trip to the Eterna Forest had been a pleasant one. It was relatively short and there was only idle chitchat between the two. Once they had made it to the edge of the forest, Gardenia was getting nervous again. "I-I don't know if I can do this."

"Oh, come on. I thought you loved the forest."

"I do, but I don't like creepy old houses."

"Don't worry; I'll be right there with you." James had a big smile on his face. This made Gardenia not so worried. The pair walked into the forest and in no time, they were at the gate to the Château. With some force, the gate opened up and they walked up to the door. Without much effort, James was able to push the door open. James walked in confidently, with a terrified Gardenia following slowly behind. They walked to the middle of the foyer. "See, there's nothing to be afraid of in here," James said, trying to calm Gardenia.

"I g-guess," stuttered Gardenia. She couldn't see any ghosts, but that didn't stop her from being scared. "I-I think we been here long enough. C-Can we go n-now."

"But we've only been in the first room," James said as he glanced around the room. "But I suppose if—you—want-" James stopped talking, as right behind Gardenia appeared a Gastly. James tried to remain as calm as possible, not wanting to freak out Gardenia. "Well you know, they say if you've seen one haunted house, you've seen them all. Let's go." James started pushing Gardenia toward the door as fast as he could, but fate just wasn't on their side.

In front of the door appeared three more Gastly. When Gardenia saw this, she completely lost it. She screamed as loud as she could and grabbed onto James as hard as she could. James didn't want to stick around too long, so he grabbed Gardenia's wrist and began to run through the house. He ran left; Gastly. He ran right; Gastly. He went upstairs; Gastly. He went back downstairs; Gastly. They continued to run until the eventually found themselves back where they had started, except now they were surrounded by about one hundred Gastly. The Gastly began to rotate around they duo. Round and round, they continued to go until no one could even tell what was going on. Then they began to close in on the two. James and Gardenia grabbed a hold of each other and screamed at the top of their lungs. The Gastly just kept on closing in. Faster and faster they went. They both just prepared for the worst, and then, they both blacked out.

…

…

…

James began to slowly open his eyes. He expected to see more ghosts, so he was surprised to find himself lying in the forest against a tree. He looked next to himself to see Gardenia also lying against the tree. He looked at his watch, it was late. Well after dark. He stood up and picked up the Gym Leader, bridal style. He walked out of the forest and back to the city, still carrying the Gym Leader. He carried her all the way back to the Pokémon Center. He told Nurse Joy what had happened, and gave her Gardenia. He then asked her for a pad and pencil. James took the supplies he asked for and sat down and wrote a small note. When he was done he tore the paper off and handed it to the nurse, and ran out of the center in search of his companions.

It wasn't until after ten o' clock that Gardenia woke up. She was surprised to find herself in the Pokémon Center. Nurse Joy came in and handed her the note from James. She read it to herself.

_Dear Gardenia,_

_Hope you wake up okay. It seems that the ghosts just wanted to be left alone. But overall I think that the trip was worth it. I had a good time. I have to leave with my friends now, but don't worry. I know our paths will cross again. I hope we can do this again next year._

_Love,_

_James_

Gardenia had a big smile on her face. She gently folded the note and put it in her pocket. "Well that was sweet, but first things first. Where's that liar Lucas."

The end

**Yay, holiday special. I hope you enjoyed this little story for Halloween, 2010. If you did enjoy it, read some of my other stuff, or just review this. I'd like to know how I did in making a story in only one chapter. Although I did kind of break the character of James a bit, I'm sure you can forgive me. Anyway, I would like to bid you all farewell, until next time.**

**Sincerely yours,**

**The Twitch E. One**


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